Insect and acarid pests can cause severe damage to crops and horticultural plants, and may serve as vectors for the transmission of disease for both people and animals. One method of controlling such pests involves the application of chemicals which repels such pests from a given environment. Thus, chemicals such as N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide (also known as DEET) is employed in repellents to protect individuals from mosquitoes, ticks and other similar pests. Other chemicals which affect insect behavior are used to attract or repel insects from a given environment in order to enhance the effectiveness of insecticides, either by attracting insects to the area where insecticides can be more effectively employed, or by repelling them from areas where insecticides are inefficient.
Among the compounds which have been employed to influence insect behavior so as to cause them to move to a different environment is methyl anthranilate. Thus, U.S. Pat. No. 6,958,146 (Askham et al), U.S. Pat. No. 7,867,479 (Dunham et al) and U.S. Pat. No. 8,092,790 (Dunham et al) all disclose the use of methyl anthranilate in the form of the commercial product BIRDSHIELD™ to induce insects to migrate from one environment to another (see, for example, Column 9, lines 26-33 of U.S. Pat. No. 7,867,479).
Anthranilate esters such as methyl anthranilate have long been known to be useful as bird repellents. Thus, U.S. Pat. No. 2,967,128 (Kare) describes the use of such compounds to deter both domestic and wild birds from eating seeds, berries, grains, fruits and the like. Further, such compounds have found to be insect attractants—for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,296,226 (Askham) states (at Column 3, lines 20-23) that “insects are readily attracted to dimethyl and methyl anthanilate. Crops relatively free of insects were quickly reinfested after being treated with either material.” This finding is supported by the disclosures in U.S. Pat. No. 6,958,146 (Askham et al), U.S. Pat. No. 7,867,479 (Dunham et al) and U.S. Pat. No. 8,092,790 (Dunham et al) which show in Table 1 of such publications that sticky traps containing methyl anthranilate quickly became covered with hundreds of insects. The sole exception presented in these patents are house flies (Musca domesticae) which we repelled by the use of methyl anthranilate.
Although U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,958,146, 7,867,479 and 8,092,790 all describe BIRDSHIELD™ as being a mixture of methyl anthranilate with a fatty acid, it is noted that the label for such product indicates that it is covered by the claims of U.S. Pat. No. 5,296,226. This patent is directed to bird repellant compositions comprising an anionic surfactant consisting of an alkyl metal salt of a fatty acid; rather than a fatty acid in acid form. According to this publication, the addition of such fatty acid salts results in the formation of micelles of such anthranilate compounds, permitting a more even distribution of such compounds on the surface treated and enhancing their efficacy as bird repellents.
Given that compositions comprising an anthranilate ester and a fatty acid salt will attract most insects and will repel birds, it is completely unexpected that a composition comprising an anthranilate ester and a fatty acid in acid form will effectively repel many insect species as well as acarids, without repelling birds, making them useful for a number of repellent purposes including protecting bird feeders from unwanted insects.